A Kiss in Time

4 days ago, I was reading this book called A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn. It’s just like Sleeping Beauty, like how the princess pricked her finger on a spindle and fell into a deep sleep until a handsome prince kisses her. But Alex Flinn spiced things up a bit. 300 years later, an American boy from Florida was traveling in Europe with his school. All they do is go to museums and look at art works and paintings of important ancient people. He think it’s boring and decides to ditch the group and he dragged his friend Travis along. They wanted to go to a beach and see hot European girls but instead, they found this deserted land across a tall wall when they climbed over it, thinking it was a beach on the other side.

They were wandering around the place and see people sleeping. It’s kind of weird that everyone is sleeping. They wandered some more and they saw this big old castle. And again, they were being nosy again and decides to go inside. Travis saw jewels and treasures and wanted to try on the armors that the sleeping nights are wearing. Jack starts walking around the castle to see what else is there to see and then he sees this beautiful gorgeous looking girl lying on the floor. She looks so peaceful and so into her sleep. It’s too tempting to kiss her, but he kissed her anyways. She wakes up and screams wondering who this is and is this her true love? Because she’s suppose to be awaken by true love’s kiss. Everyone else woke up and then they found out they’ve been sleeping for 300 years. They got so mad at the princess, Talia, and Jack, for kissing her and throws him in the dungeon and Travis happened to escape. Talia’s parents was mad at her and then she felt unloved and helped Jack escaped and they both escaped back to Belgium.

On their way back to Belgium, Talia kept whining and stuff like a little girl and Jack kind of wishes he never kissed her. When they were at Belgium, he went to go buy her some 21st century clothing. She think its weird but she wore it anyways. He also taught her how to use a phone. The 21st century was so weird to her. They got plane tickets and they went back to Florida, because everyone else from school left too.

When they went back home, Jack asks if Talia can stay at their house and he made up an excuse saying her parents are visiting the Grand Canyon and she didn’t want to go and then they let her stay for a week. As time passes by, Jack grew fond of her and eventually he fell in love with her.

One night, they were sleeping and then the evil witch Malvolia magically appeared in Talia’s room and she took her back to Europe… Euphrasia (her kingdom). In the morning, they found out that she was gone and then Jack starts to think it’s Malvolia, because Talia told her about her and how she has magical powers and she’s able to do stuff. He had to tell his parents and his sister the whole story about the magic and the princess and Euphrasia and stuff. At first they didn’t believe him and then his dad believe him and they booked 2 tickets to go back to Euphrasia and go help them save her.

Back at Euphrasia, Malvolia wanted to kill her… because the first try was fail. She wants to kill her and then show her father her dead body so he can be heartbroken because of something that happened in the past and she wants revenge. Malvolia makes Talia sew a dress that she’s suppose to put on when she’s gonna be laying in her coffin. Talia takes time to sew her dress. Malvolia said she’s not going to kill her but she’s going to put her to sleep again by the spindle and see if Jack’s really her true love and see if he can rescue her.

It ended up he rescued her and he Is her true love after all. Jack found Talia in the cottage and then Malvolia disappears. Jack and Talia returns back to the castle and tells her parents everything is okay. She thought her parents would get mad for her running away, but they were happy that she’s okay and that they’re sorry for yelling at her.

Now since they’re in the 21st century, Jack and her father and everyone else helps them update their life so they can fit in.

I really like this book and I’m planning on reading this book again someday. Someone should make a movie about this because I can totally picture everything. Maybe if I was a director, I can direct this movie! They should at least make a cartoon of this, even though if it’s just like The Sleeping Beauty. Right now I’m reading this book called True Love by Lurene McDaniel.

4 Day Weekend; Chinese New year; Valentine's Day

On Friday, the 12th, I stayed home the whole day and I woke up at around noon. Probably because I was too exhausted from the work I've been doing during those 4 days of school. It was a pretty relaxed day though.

On Saturday, I had piano lessons from 12:30 - 3:00 at my piano teacher's house. After that I went back home and got ready to go eat out with my family for Chinese New Years with my family. My side of the family were super slow at getting ready. My cousin's side were already there. They got a table for us already and they already ordered some food too. By the time we arrived, there were already food on the table. But we were still able to order food. We also gave each other red envelopes. I got around $300 that day.

On Sunday, I went to San Francisco with Leon! We watched Dear John and we cried. It was a sad movie and it was also a very lovable movie too. I really liked it. Some of my friends said it was very good also, but a few of my friends said it was bad. I don't think it's bad at all. I think it was very good. Channing Tatum stars in it too! I remember watching him in She's The Man starring Amanda Bynes. It made me want to watch that again. After the movie, we walked around Westfield and then we went to Subways to get a sandwich because we got hungry. My stomach was growling during the movie too and Leon heard. How embarrassing... After we ordered our sandwich, this guy came up to us asking us for money. It was so weird and creepy, plus we didn't have that much money anyways. We had like a few more dollars left but we need those to take the bus. So we just left... and then he went to ask someone else for money.
Later we went back to Westfield and sat somewhere to eat. After that, we walked around some more and then it was around 5 so we started going back to Oakland. At the bart, Leon gave me a giant teddy bear that's holding a heart that says LOVE on it. It's so cute! The bart came, and we went out at Lake Merritt bart station. My friends were hanging out at Chinatown the whole day while Leon and I were at San Francisco so we met up with them after. Around 5:30 my mom came to Lincoln Square at China town to pick me up. That day was amazing!

Today, the 15th, my parents, grandpa, aunt, and niece went out to Emeryville to eat. We went to a restaurant called Hong Kong East Ocean. I like that restaurant, it's pretty inside and you can see the Ocean too. No wonder it's called East Ocean... My mom made me bring my camera so we can take pictures to send to China to show the rest of our family. Today I ate a lot, which was surprising because I don't usually eat that much because I get full super fast. When we were done eating, my dad and my grandpa went home first while my mom, my aunt, and niece went to Bay Street to walk around. There was this bag from H&M that I really wanted, but my mom wouldn't let me have it because she said it wasn't good and it's expensive, when it really wasn't. She didn't even take a look at it and she already said no and she went to another store. If I brought my own money, I could've gotten it. Then at Abercrombie and Fitch, I saw this top that was cute too. And it was on sale so it wasn't so expensive like how their clothes usually are. I asked my mom if I could get it and she said no again. Oh well... the next time I'm coming back out here, I'm going to bring my own money. I don't know why I didn't bring it out today. I guess it's cause i didn't know we were going to go to Bay Street to walk around. I thought we were only going to eat and that's it.

This 4 day weekend went by super fast. But it's okay. I'm not looking forward to school tomorrow. I feel like I need more days to relax because I'm still super tired. At least there's only 4 day of school this week too, even though it's not that much of a difference. What I am looking forward to now is Spring break, which is in April. Oh well!

4 days

There are 4 days of school this week and after, we're having our 4 day weekend. President's day! My friends from San Leandro High have the whole week off though. At first I thought these 4 days are going to be pretty chilled and relax, but I ended up having so much work to do. In history, we're having a group project about the Imperialism that we can work on in class that is due this Thursday at the end of the period. I really don't know how we are going to finish it if we don't have that much time in class, unless we work on it during lunch or after school. Priscilla, Grant, and Katherine are in my group. Katherine has her swim meet after school, so I guess only Priscilla and Grant can meet up with me after school or something. We want to make it look super nice too. If only this project can be due next week, it would be so much better; we wouldn't have to worry about so much.

Spanish is pretty stressful too. Yesterday we had this homework assignment where we had to translate the English sentences into Spanish. Today in class, we were going over it, and when we came up to the second to last sentence, everyone was struggling with it because everyone got it wrong. Ms. Castro gave us 30 seconds to fix it and whoever gets it right gets pesos. Everyone was working so hard for the next 30 seconds to get the pesos and then time was up, and she gave everyone pesos for trying anyways.

The next thing you know it, she gave me a 0 for that one sentence. She posted it on schoolloop. Ryan then texted me telling me Ms. Castro gave him an F for he assignment. Later I went on schoolloop and she gave me a 0 for the assignment too! My A+ in the class dropped down to a D+. This better be a mistake...

Mr. Sutherland! You still haven't changed my grade for my blog post that was due on January 29th, when I posted it on lab day; January 27th. You told me you didn't see it but it's there. And I have 479 words and they are split up into paragraphs. Can you check it again please? Thanks!

Oh yeah, last semester, I got a 4.0! My first 4.0 I was super happy and my parents were proud, but they didn't really make a big deal out of it, as if they expect me to get a 4.0, but this is my first. Now, starting at the 2nd semester, I felt like things are going to get harder, and things ARE getting harder. Right now, I'm on schoolloop, and I see my grades; D+ in spanish, B in computers, F in English, A- in history, and my grade in math didn't change yet; Ms. Needham didn't update it yet. And coach Pearse doesn't even use schoolloop. So looking at these grades makes me upset. I want to improve this year. And I did, during the 1st semester. Now I'm starting to doubt if it was actually me who worked hard and got my 4.0 because I deserve it? Or is it because I got lucky? I feel like I'm working pretty hard right now too. But why do I have such bad grades all of a sudden? Hopefully this year will end smoothly giving me a 4.0 again. If not, hopefully the lowest I'll get is a 3.8.

I just want the 4 day weekend to come! I am stressing so much this week...

Oh yeah! So on February 2010, there are 4 Mondays, 4 Tuesdays, 4 Wednesdays, 4 Thursdays, 4 Fridays, 4 Saturdays, and 4 Sundays. This only happens ever 11 years. And it’s funny how we have 4 days of school and a 4 day weekend after. Everything 4! Haha.

Chinese New Year Street Fest

The Chinese New Year street fest is this weekend at China town! Even though Chinese New Year is on Valentine's day. But the street fest is going to happen both on Saturday and on Sunday. But I only have time to go on Sunday because on Saturday I have piano lessons for like almost the whole day. So I'll be going on Sunday with a whole bunch of my friends. I bet there are going to be more people going on Saturday though, just because it's the first day and I guess it's more exciting. But anyways, my friends asked me to hang out on Sunday though because some of them have to volunteer on Saturday so I don't think they will have time to wander around the whole street fest. But on Sunday, they can.

I don't even know who I'm going with exactly. A lot of my friends asked me and I just said "yeah, I'm going, so I'll just see you there or something." So I guess I'll just go there and meet up with them and hang out as a giant group. There are people that I know who asked me to hang out that are from different schools too, so I think my group is going to be pretty big. I'm not sure, but oh well.

I think this year's street fest is going to be the same like every other street fests in China town. I wish something amazing can happen though, like some famous person can come here and perform. Since it's China town, I guess someone from China can come perform? That would be pretty cool. And at least I can have another reason to be out with my friends. I also heard that at China town, you can get your ears pierce without having your parents there. I think I want to get another pair of piercings for my ear. I don't know why, I'm just feel like getting one more pair. I don't think my mom will like it, but oh well, she can't "hate" it. They're just earrings. But I'm not even sure where; I should ask my friends.

Right now it's only 6:21 and my friend Arlene wants me to go out later at 7 until 9 to go ice skating with her at Downtown Oakland. I thought that was pretty late but she said it's the weekend and a long week has passed and we should relax and hang out, because I haven't seen her in so long; she goes to San Leandro High School, and she wants to hang out with a group of friends. I don't think my mom would let me hang out but she still wants me to ask. It's almost 7 and my mom still isn't at home yet. But I still doubt my mom is going to let, so I don't think I'm going to go. That's going to disappoint Arlene though, but we can always hang out during the street fest anyways.

I'm also looking forward to the 4 day weekend!

Finals are OVER!

Okay so finals are over and this week is the first week of the second semester. I think that the finals were okay. For PE, I did my bowling final which was mostly true or false and it was super easy. For Spanish, we did our oral presentation and I got A+ on that but I got a D for the multiple choice. For current life, we had a PowerPoint to present and I did that which was easy too. We didn't do anything in English because our final was to do a blog post about out blog posts and we were done with that before the final so everyone just sat there and hung out until school was over. In history and math, we did a multiple choice test that was like 50-60 questions. That was a Thursday and those finals were harder. It's a good thing I passed all of them though. For this semester I have all A's and 1 B, in PE. That only B just ruins my gpa. During the first quarter, I thought I would get my first 4.0 because on schoolloop, every teacher of mine posted grades online except for my PE teacher. So since it was only the first quarter, I was hoping I would get an A, but no, I have a B, so my gpa was a 3.8. I really thought I would get my first 4.0!

I think right now for the first semester I'm going to get the same GPA; 3.8. I had my hopes up too :'( Anyways, at least I'm improving... last year during freshmen year, I had a 2.6! That was so low for someone like me. I had mostly B's and like I think 1 C. Well I think I'm pretty satisfied with my grades right now.. even though I still could've gotten a 4.0. My FIRST 4.0.

Okay so the second semester started and right now for every class, everyone has an A+. We're starting fresh now. I hope I can just keep my 3.8 for the whole year. I know I can't get an A in PE. I can't make all the pacers and I think I failed most of the written tests. So my goal for this semester is to just keep up my grades. Oh, did I mention in math during the first semester, I got a 103%! That's practically an A++! I want to keep my straight A's up.

But then again, I feel like the second semester is going to be harder. I don't know why, but I just feel like it's going to be really hard. Maybe I'm overreacting or just being paranoid. I want to get through this semester without having any troubles or struggles or stresses. Then summer vacation is going to start and I can just relax (and take some classes of course).

English Final

The heart and soul of blogging is the individual and/or the group of individuals opining on the fly and responding post-haste to one and all.
- Michael Conniff

(questions not in order)
7. During the first few weeks of school, I’m always excited to write in my blog. I never thought about if I have stuff to write about or not. But around the second quarter, I started struggling on what to write about. I always say “oh my gosh, what should I write about?” I don’t know why I tend to get stuck but I feel like there is just nothing to write about! The first few blog posts I blogged about piano, movie review, and stuff that have been happening lately. After that I feel like there is nothing to write about. It’s kind of like how every morning, some girls always say “I know I have a closet full of clothes, but there is just nothing to wear!” or “I don’t know what to wear!” How I get unstuck is when I write about my day. I have to do a blog post every week for English class, so since there are no good topics for me to choose, I think I should just write about my day. I mean, there are millions of topics that I can write about, but when I blog, I don’t want to just type about random stuff; I need to have knowledge about that certain topic so I can make my blog post sound amazing.

10. Since this is my first blog account ever, I only update Blogger once a week for class. I also made an account on Tumblr. Tumblr is another website for blogging but it’s more popular these days. I have a lot of friends who have a Tumblr account and I really like this website a lot. I feel like Tumblr is more fun too because Tumblr is a place where people can post random stuff like post pictures, quotes, music, chats, and more. Also we can repost people's posts; that is, if we're following them, but Blogger is amazing too. When I blog on both Blogger and Tumblr, I mostly blog about how was my day, especially on Blogger. Why did I make an account on Tumblr if I have a Blogger? Well, I guess it’s because it’s popular and stuff and I don’t know, I made it just for the heck of it. I also want to be better at blogging. There are a lot of people who blogs about interesting stuff. What kind of stuff? I don’t even know. The people I follow inspire me about what to write. I follow friends and people who share the same interests as me, and I decide to blog about stuff like them. What they blog about is mostly about love, hatred, special occasions, etc... But most of the time, they only post pictures. I post about everything now, especially feelings and inside thoughts that I want out of my head.

8. I really like having a blog. I've never had a blog before. Blogging is a place where you can talk about anything. And you can vent about stuff. It's kind of like an online journal or diary. And it's really organized too. It changed the way I write and the way I think because usually we don't speak the same way when we blog. Most of the time when I blog, I blog about my day or our feelings. And stuff I really need to say. I don't speak the same way when I blog online because it's weird. It's like reading books or poems or songs. When I blog, sometimes I can blog all formally like an essay, but when I speak, it's casual; I’m having a friendly conversation with someone in real life. I don’t speak all formally or an essay-type of conversation with someone. People will think I’m like memorizing what I’m saying from a script of something. I like how when I’m blogging, I can talk about whatever I want. It’s really easy, even though there isn’t that much to talk about. I try to think about random stuff to talk about, but I always end up talking about my day. I can talk about my day to my parents during dinner time, but then through blogging, I talk about my feelings. I can also make my blog posts private if I don’t want any of my followers to read it. I don’t blog for my fellow followers to read, I blog for myself. But sometimes, I guess it’s nice if my followers do read my blog posts, because I might post something funny or post something I want to share with them.

Before I made a Blogger, I saw commercials about blogging, like for example this guy and a lady was at a party and he asked if she wanted to go to his house and she though he was like those freaky men who wants sex or whatever, but then he took a bite of a candy bar and he said “Oh I thought you were a blogger.” And then she said “Oh I love blogging!” (It was a commercial about that candy that he took a bite of…). I always thought to myself what is the point of blogging? Because I never actually know what does blogging even mean. But now I really like it. I really enjoy blogging. It’s like a daily habit for me to blog now (on Tumblr). Whenever I go back home after school, I turn on the computer, and I open up so many windows; AIM, MSN, iTunes, Facebook, Youtube, Schoolloop, and Tumblr.

I hope I can continue blogging for a long time. There are certain habits that I want to get rid of, but I keep procrastinating to get rid of them, but I continue doing them anyways. But right now, blogging is a habit for me. Every day on Tumblr, I always have to post something up; I blog about everything. There are a few blog posts that I have written that are not redundant at all and it makes sense a lot and it’s over 1000 words. I felt pretty proud of myself after that. Sometimes when I get bored I reread all my blog posts and I to reminisce the moments. For a few times, I’ve found some redundancy my posts. After that, I read the recent blog post and I feel like I’ve improved a lot. I want to blog every day for years to come and someday I will reread my first blog post that I’ve ever done to the most recent one.

Your blog is what you say when there is nobody standing over your shoulder telling you what to do.
- Lorelle

Quickwrite: Writing Groups

If I'm going to be working with peers for blogging or any type of writing, I would like to have some ideas on what to write about. Sometimes I don't even know what to write about. I can't really think of anything interesting to write about instead of how was my day. I know there are millions of topics to write about, but then since there is a certain amount of words that are required (300-400), i want to write about something that I have knowledge about. Sometimes there are amazing topics that I can write about, but then I just need to know more about it instead of just write random babbling in order to get to 300 words.

If I'm going to be in a group with people, I would like to be in a group with friends; friends who I talk to a lot and who are comfortable with. Because we can open up with each other and we can say what are our mistakes and help edit each other's work without feeling... embarrassed. But working with people you're not so comfortable with is pretty hard, especially if you don't really socialize with many people and if you're quiet. Also, it is more fun to work with friends anyways.

I think the only rule for writing in groups is if someone is not comfortable sharing something with everyone, then they don't have to read it. Maybe what they wrote is personal and they're not ready to read it just yet; but we might think 'why would you write something personal if you don't want it to be read? Especially if it's going to be on a blog post where some people are going to be reading?' Well, maybe he/she don't want to read it out loud? There are many reasons why, so we can't force them to read it if they don't want to.